QA Graphics has expanded its capabilities to provide building information modeling (BIM) design for building product manufacturers.
QA Graphics provides various graphic outsourcing solutions for the building industry, including the creation of 3D models and animations for manufacturers' building products, designing control system graphics, and the development of energy education dashboards to provide education about a building's sustainable features. The company has worked with several manufacturers to provide 3D design and animation services to represent their heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment.
The company also developed a 3D symbol library for the building automation industry, which is designed to provide images of equipment and components that allow users to create more appealing and realistic system graphics than provided by BAS software. The 3D symbol library has been implemented into numerous facilities, and several control system manufacturers have worked with QA Graphics to acquire custom libraries. Through this experience, the company has expanded its services to provide BIM design.
QA Graphics looks to primarily provide BIM object creation services to meet the needs of building product manufacturers, allowing them to provide BIM-based libraries for their own product lines. This is expected to allow designers, architects, and contractors to include the products in their building information models.
QA Graphics said it will work with product manufacturers to create 3D BIM objects that accurately represent their building product lines. "This will allow for 3D visualization as well as the inclusion of specific details about the product's performance, manufacturer information, and associated costs. Manufacturers will be able to provide designers with these intelligent objects to increase the specification of their products in the early stages of a building's design. And as green construction continues to increase, we anticipate that the demand for models of major equipment to be specified in the early design process will further the demand for BIM objects, as it will allow contractors to view product-specific details and plan ahead for building performance and associated costs."
The company primarily will develop BIM objects for MEP equipment with connections for mechanical equipment, ductwork, pipes, etc. QA Graphics stressed that it follows Autodesk Seek standards, providing fully parametric models that are data-rich, but with efficient file sizes, to contain all of the product-specific information that designers and contractors will need for their building information models.
